When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, much of the attention will be on the high-stakes talks between the leaders that are expected to focus on trade, technology, artificial intelligence, and the complicated relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

But at the summit, Xi will be joined by his wife, Peng Liyuan, who has spent more than a decade accompanying him on diplomatic trips and cultivating a public role that is unusual for a leader’s wife in China. A celebrated singer before Xi became China’s leader, Peng has helped transform the largely ceremonial role of the Chinese president’s wife into a more visible form of cultural and public diplomacy.